The Dickinson press., 1887-08-06

t1er llIe Is JUST Deg0n: and this
Is but an empty chrysalis;
While she, unseen to mortal eyes,
Now wins her way in brighter skies
Beyond this world of seeming.
BEN'S FOREIGN SERVICE.
Up at the hall there was a general commo-
tion. Mr.. Westley, the owner of Westley
Grange, had come pretty nearly to the end Of
his tether. He had hut lately succeeded to
the estate, and it had come to him very
heavily encunbered; and now, with reduced
rents, irregularly paid, he found it impossi-
bio to go Oh. He had, therefore, determined
to spend couple of years on the continent,
during which time he hoped th;t the agri-
cultural depression would pass away.
The establishment at the hall was not n
large one by any means for a country bach
elor squire, but it was larger than he could
afford to keep up under existing circuul-
stances. So one evening he called his SER
wants together and told them how matters
were with him, bidding them seek other situ-
ations ut once
His personal servant, Ben Higgins, was not
included in the general dismissal, but was
destined to accompany his master abroad.
Ben was one of those men not unfrcquently
met with in this country-a man who could
turn his hand to most things, though he might
not be good at any. The position he held at
Westley Grange was n cross between a valet
and gamekeeper lut nt odd times lie had
been known to cook his masters dinner and
mako his masters bed. This was during
gY7usins expedition on the Welsh hills, but
the r,,mor OF it had Travelled to Westley. Ben
was i'll high spirits when lie was told of the
Journey lii store for him.
"l'.l teach these foreigners a thing or two"
he said to tho cook one night: to which she
replied: You be very careful, Mr.. Ben, that
they don't teach You moro than you teach
thenl.n
"The,n!' be cried; them teach me. Why,
could wallop tho lot of 'cnl, if wanted to-"
"Then You mind You don't want to-" she
answered.
"Why. you know very well,' continued
Ben, that l set yorr watch ngoing after
James, tho matchmaker, had had it n month,
and couldn't make nothing of it; and
stopped the blue bed room cainbly smoking,
when the smoke had nearly druv you all
out of the place"
"Rubbish.' she said. "Tle watch only
wanted winding; and as for the climbly, it
smoked because there WAS q bag of straw in
1t. You needn't crow over them things,
young man."
Yes, there was little i'll feeling on the Part
of the cook toward Ben She had claimcd
him for her own originally, but Ben had
fought shy; and latteriy he had been paying
q good deal of attention TO Anna, the house
mud at the rectory. Either fault alone, on
Ben's part, would have made the cook some
what aggricvcl toward him, but the two
combined were moro than culinary flesh and
blood could stand. Thus it happened that
her tongue had an access of acerbity when
moving at Ben.
Down ut the rectory tho commotion was
nearly as general. The servants discussed
the situation from morning till night, and
Anna received many unpleasant jecrs
"Sticli to your said The coachman: mot lie.
Them sort never sticks to nothing but their
baccy. When you says goodby to Ben, you
says goodby forever, my lnsS."
"IIe can please himself" she said; "but if
he thinks l shall die broken hearted because
he takes on with some foreign girl, he's very
much mstooll'
"Thats always the way with you women
folk. You talk as big as big, and when it
comes TO, you doubles up to nothing There
was that gal o Simnr:id's--h"r as kept COM
pany with that keeper fellow. Look low her
brazened it ont when they found he'd left a
wife in Nuics, and her died OF comsumpton
in less than II year"
"But Ben and mes different, said Anna.
"lf he's not in earnest, no more aren't !"
Which was, perhaps, consolatory.
The time slipped rapidly by, and it wanted
but day till Ben and his master should start
for the continent. That night Ben repaired
to the iectoly, and had II parting il;crvicw
with Anna. Hi; las words were: "You'l
not forget nc, Anna, while am parted from
yous I'm a-comins back for you some day.
Till then, ho livcr."
:Till wha,.n
'That's u bit of French, my dear I've
bin learning the langwiAse lately. It's some
thing like 'soolby,' only moro so. Ho
river!" And SO they parted.
In the course OF n few weeks Ben and his
master were comfortably settled in small
German village Tear Bonn. The house where
they had maze their home was an old farm
house that had enc, belonged to q nobo
family, but was rov partly fallen to decay.
1t was inhabited l.y:hc present owner, who
carried on the business of small furlner and
wine grower. He had neither vito nor child,
tho domestic functions being su,peritten,le,l,
and i'll great measure performed, bv SIS
ter. Naturally, therefore, it came about that
Ben and Fraulein Schmidt We're often in each
others company, and: naturally, also, Ben
Improved the occasion. If the FraGlen, with
won,an'y curiosity, asked about the Herr
Westlcy, Ben was careful to explain to her
that Herr Wesley Was q great baron at
home. dwelling i'll q mansion with marble
halls and glded ceilings: that he, Ben jalnin
Biggins, was the confidential companion of
this said great baron,- and that, though be
(Benjanin) appeared in the role of a servant,
he had remarkably good position among
the gentlemen of his native land. And the
Traulein would listen with flushed cheeks and
sparkling eyes. Sometimes in the evening.
before the farmer had como home, as they
sat together by the house fireplace, Ben
would delight his listener with stories of the
wonders Of London. He had spent a few
hours there one day while attending upon his
master, and he therefore felt competent to
describe its principal sights, and where his
knowledge failed his invention came to the
rescue.
True, he mixed things up a little He got
the National gallery and the houses of parlia-
ment under the same roof, Westminster
Abbey and the Tower within a stones throw
of each other, while the way to the Crystal
palace was over London bridge and up the
river past Battersea park But this made no
difference at all to his listener. Like Des.ie-
mona, she drank in all his descriptions:
But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Whichever as she could with haste dispatch,
She'd come again.
All this was. I fear, on Ben's part, a matter
Of calculation rather than sentiment. That
be wished to stand well, for the standings
sake, in the eyes of his landlady, goes without
saying, but the standing well brought with
it and after it some advantages that were
Of infinitely more value to Ben There we.e
many things dear to Ben's heart, but none
more dear than poached eggs and hot but
tered toas'; and thous, those We're not in
the contract, they were almost daily ire-
dents of Ben's life. AT first, it is true, lie had
not got OF: so well with hi, lantlla,ly. for not